Roles for Health Sciences Librarians at College and University Libraries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29173/istl42Abstract
ABSTRACT
Objectives: To meet the changing priorities of researchers and funding agencies, U.S. college and university libraries (C&ULs) that are not Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) members may want to hire librarians capable of supporting interdisciplinary health sciences research. This study sought to identify whether such roles are emerging by examining advertised position descriptions.
Methods: We collected position advertisements posted to job boards and mailing lists between September 1 2018 and March 1 2019. Positions that included one of these terms in the title, qualifications, or responsibilities were eligible for inclusion: medic*, health, life, nursing, veterinary, bio*, pharma*. We categorized postings by institution type, geographic region, and position type. We used grounded theory to identify themes within the data, and NVivo to quantify how often each theme appeared within the data.
Results: 104 job postings met our inclusion criteria: 60 at AAHSL institutions and 44 at C&UL institutions. Despite some minor variations among specific roles and responsibilities, we found substantial overlap in the qualifications listed for positions at both types of institution. Qualifications more often prioritized traditional librarian competencies rather than emerging areas, such as data science, grant support, and research impact.
Conclusions: Both AAHSL and C&UL institutions show an interest in hiring librarians capable of supporting health and life sciences teaching and research. Competition for a similar pool of applicants may create challenges for hiring officials, and librarians interested in these positions will likely seek out professional development opportunities in emerging areas of practice.
Downloads
References
American Library Association. 2012 Diversity standards: cultural competency for academic libraries [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Association of College & Research Libraries. [cited 2020 Jan 21]. Available from: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/diversity.
American Library Association. 2015. Badging [Internet]. Chicago (IL): American Library Association. [cited 2019 Oct 15]. Available from: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform/badging.
American Library Association. n.d. ALA JobLIST: jobs in library & information science & technology [Internet]. Chicago (IL): American Library Association. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: https://joblist.ala.org?site_id=21926.
Amundsen, J. 2017. Equity, diversity, and inclusion: dispatches from ACRL [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Association of College & Research Libraries. [cited 2020 Jan 21]. Available from: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/equity-diversity-inclusion-dispatches-acrl.
Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. 2019. About AAHSL [Internet]. Seattle (WA): Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries. [cited 2019 Oct 14]. Available from: https://www.aahsl.org/about-us.
Association of College & Research Libraries Health Sciences Interest Group. 2019. ACRL-HSIG Archives [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Association of College & Research Libraries. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: https://lists.purdue.edu/pipermail/acrl-hsig.
Association of College & Research Libraries Science & Technology Section. 2019. STS-L: ACRL Science & Technology Section discussion list [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Association of College & Research Libraries. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: http://lists.ala.org/sympa/arc/sts-l.
Baildon, M. 2018. Extending the social justice mindset: implications for scholarly communication. College & Research Libraries News 79(4):176–179. DOI: 10.5860/crln.79.4.176.
Baildon, M., Hamlin, D., Jankowski, C., Kauffman, R., Lanigan, J., Miller, M., Venlet, J. & Willer, A.M. 2017. Creating a social justice mindset: diversity, inclusion, and social justice in the Collections Directorate of the MIT Libraries [Internet]. Cambridge (MA): MIT Libraries. [cited 2020 Jan 21]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108771.
Beile, P.M. & Adams, M.M. 2000. Other duties as assigned: emerging trends in the academic library job market. College & Research Libraries 61(4):336–347. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5860/crl.61.4.336.
Birks, M. & Mills, J. 2011. Grounded theory: a practical guide. London: Sage.
Bourg, C. 2014. The unbearable whiteness of librarianship. Feral librarian [Internet]. [cited 2018 Sep 5]. Available from: https://chrisbourg.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-librarianship.
Brunner, M.L. 2010. Ph.D. holders in the academic library: the CLIR postdoctoral fellowship program [Internet]. In: Walter S., Coleman V., Williams K., editors. The expert library: staffing, sustaining, and advancing the academic library in the 21st century. Chicago (IL): Association of College & Research Libraries. [cited 2019 Jul 1]. Available from: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/05j228r4.
Burton, M. & Lyon, L. 2017. Data science in libraries. Bulletin of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 43(4):33–35. DOI: 10.1002/bul2.2017.1720430409.
Bychowski, B.K.H., Caffrey, C.M., Costa, M.C., Moore, A.D., Sudhakaran, J. & Zhang, Y. 2010. Old words, new meanings: a study of trends in science librarian job ads. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. 63. DOI: 10.5062/F47D2S2K.
Carroll, A.J., Eskridge, H.N. & Chang, B.P. 2020. Lab-integrated librarians: a model for research engagement. College & Research Libraries. 81(1):8–26. DOI: 10.5860/crl.81.1.8.
Carroll, A.J. & Klipfel, K.M. 2019. Talent, schmalent: an instructional design/action research framework for the professionalization of teaching in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 45(2):110–118. DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2019.01.009.
Carroll, A.J. & Reed, J.B. 2019a. 2018 AAHSL member directory. Open Science Framework. Charlottesville (VA): Center for Open Science. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/WCBZR.
Carroll, A.J. & Reed, J.B. 2019b. Collected position descriptions data sheet. Open Science Framework. Charlottesville (VA): Center for Open Science. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/XQC7T.
Carroll, A.J. & Reed, J.B. 2019c. Investigating roles for health sciences librarians at college and university libraries. Open Science Framework. Charlottesville (VA): Center for Open Science. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/QRW7K.
Chisholm-Burns, M.A., Spivey, C.A., Stallworth, S. & Zivin, J.G. 2019. Educational debt crisis: analysis of debt and income among pharmacists, physicians, dentists, optometrists, and veterinarians. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 83(9):7460 DOI: 10.5688/ajpe7460.
Cimellaro, G.P., Reinhorn, A.M. & Bruneau, M. 2010. Framework for analytical quantification of disaster resilience. Engineering Structures. 32(11):3639–3649. DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2010.08.008.
Cooper, I.D. & Crum, J.A. 2013. New activities and changing roles of health sciences librarians: a systematic review, 1990-2012. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 101(4):268–277. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.00.
Crum, J.A. & Cooper, I.D. 2013. Emerging roles for biomedical librarians: a survey of current practice, challenges, and changes. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 101(4):278–286. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.101.4.009.
Dempsey, L. 2016. Library collections in the life of the user: two directions. LIBER Quarterly. 26(4):338. DOI: 10.18352/lq.10170.
Detlefsen, E.G. 2012. Teaching about teaching and instruction on instruction: a challenge for health sciences library education. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 100(4):244–250. DOI: 10.3163/1536-5050.100.4.005.
Douglas-Williams, T., Linares, B. & Lindsay, J.M. 2019. Diversity in degrees in libraries. In: Proceedings of the 2019 Medical Library Association Annual Meeting and Exhibition. Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association.
Driscoll, D.A., Banks, S.C., Barton, P.S., Ikin, K., Lentini, P., Lindenmayer, D.B., Smith, A.L., Berry, L.E., Burns, E.L., Edworthy, A., et al. 2014. The trajectory of dispersal research in conservation biology: systematic review. PLoS ONE 9(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095053.
Epstein, B. 2017. Newly appointed diversity task force announced [Internet]. Full Speed Ahead. Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association. [cited 2020 Jan 22]. Available from: https://www.mlanet.org/blog/newly-appointed-diversity-task-force.
Federer, L., Clarke, S.C., Zaringhalam, M. & Huerta, M. 2020. Developing the librarian workforce for data science and open science. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine. DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/.
Ferreira dos Santos, L., Christ, O., Mate, K., Schmidt, H., Krüger, J. & Dohle, C. 2016. Movement visualisation in virtual reality rehabilitation of the lower limb: a systematic review. BioMedical Engineering OnLine. 15(3):144. DOI: 10.1186/s12938-016-0289-4.
Glaser, B. & Strauss, A. 2000. The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. New Brunswick (NJ): Routledge.
Grimes, M.F. & Grimes, P.W. 2008. The academic librarian labor market and the role of the master of library science degree: 1975 through 2005. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 34(4):332–339. DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2008.05.023.
Hahn, K. 2009. Introduction: positioning liaison librarians for the 21st century. Research Library Issues. no. 265(1-2). DOI: 10.29242/rli.265.1.
Hathcock, A. 2015.White librarianship in blackface: diversity initiatives in LIS [Internet]. In the Library with the Lead Pipe. [cited 2018 Sep 5]. Available from: http://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2015/lis-diversity/.
Hernon, P. & Schwartz, C. 2015.Descriptions in job ads sometimes equal "Huh?", or "Do you know what you are asking for?" Library & Information Science Research. 37(3):173–174. DOI: 10.1016/j.lisr.2015.08.001.
Holden, R.J., Carayon, P., Gurses, A.P., Hoonakker, P., Hundt, A.S., Ozok, A.A. & Rivera-Rodriguez, A.J. 2013. SEIPS 2.0: a human factors framework for studying and improving the work of healthcare professionals and patients. Ergonomics. 56(11):1669–1686. DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2013.838643.
Hoodless, C. & Pinfield, S. 2018. Subject vs. functional: should subject librarians be replaced by functional specialists in academic libraries? Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. 50(4):345–360. DOI: 10.1177/0961000616653647.
Hurd, J.M. 1992. Interdisciplinary research in the sciences: implications for library organization. College & Research Libraries. 53(4):283–297. DOI: 10.5860/crl_53_04_283.
Jaguszewski, J.M. & Williams, K. 2013. New roles for new times: transforming liaison roles in research libraries. Washington (DC): Association of Research Libraries.
Knapp, J.A. 2012. Plugging the "whole": librarians as interdisciplinary facilitators. Library Review. DOI: 10.1108/00242531211259328.
Knowlton, S.P. & Imamoto, B. 2006. Recruiting non-MLIS graduate students to academic librarianship. College & Research Libraries. 67(6):561–570. DOI: 10.5860/crl.67.6.561.
Korosteleva, O. 2018. Fisher exact test. In: Frey, B., editor. The SAGE encyclopedia of educational research, measurement, and evaluation. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks (CA): SAGE Publications. p. 679–682. DOI: 10.4135/9781506326139.n266.
Kung, J., Fraser, K.L. & Winn, D. 2020. Diversity initiatives to recruit and retain academic librarians: a systematic review. College & Research Libraries. 81(1):96–108. DOI: 10.5860/crl.81.1.9.
Leckie, G.J., Pettigrew, K.E. & Sylvain, C. 1996. Modeling the information seeking of professionals: a general model derived from research on engineers, health care professionals, and lawyers. The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy. 66(2):161–193.
Lyon, L., Mattern, E., Acker, A. & Langmead, A. 2015. Applying Translational Principles to Data Science Curriculum Development. In: iPres 2015 Proceedings; 2015 Nov 2-6 Chapel Hill (NC).Available from: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/27159/.
Ma, J., Stahl, L. & Knotts, E. 2018. Emerging roles of health information professionals for library and information science curriculum development: a scoping review. Journal of the Medical Library Association. 106(4):432–444. DOI: 10.5195/jmla.2018.354.
Mathews, J.M. & Pardue, H. 2009. The presence of IT skill sets in librarian position announcements. College & Research Libraries. 70(3):250–257. DOI: 10.5860/crl.70.3.250.
Medical Library Association. 2019a. MLA find a job [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: https://www.mlanet.org/p/cm/ld/fid=46.
Medical Library Association. 2019b. MEDLIB-L [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: https://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=medlib-l.
Medical Library Association. 2020. AHIP credentialing [Internet]. Chicago (IL): Medical Library Association. [cited 2020 Jan 27]. Available from: https://www.mlanet.org/academy.
National Network of Libraries of Medicine. 2019. Regional medical libraries [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Network of Libraries of Medicine. [cited 2019 May 17]. Available from: https://nnlm.gov/regions.
National Science Foundation. n.d. Introduction to interdisciplinary research. Alexandria (VA): National Science Foundation. [cited 2019 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/additional_resources/interdisciplinary_research/index.jsp.
Pinfield, S. 2001. The changing role of subject librarians in academic libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. 33(1):32–38. DOI: 10.1177/096100060103300104.
Pothier, W.G., Howard, H. & Campbell, P. 2019. Pathways to becoming an academic subject specialist: insights from three librarians. Partnership. 14(1). DOI: 10.21083/partnership.v14i1.5172.
Reed, J.B. & Carroll, A.J. 2019. NVivo queries. Open Science Framework. Charlottesville (VA): Center for Open Science. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/HSVJK.
Reed, R.B. & Butkovich, N.J. 2017. Comparison of data and informatics responsibilities and job titles between academic stem and medical librarians. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. 87. DOI: 10.5062/F4V40SFK.
Reser, D.W. & Schuneman, A.P. 1992. The academic library job market: a content analysis comparing public and technical services. College & Research Libraries. 53(1):49–59. DOI: 10.5860/crl_53_01_49.
Rockenbach, B. 2018. What are we trying to build? Research Library Issues. (294):3–7. DOI: 10.29242/rli.294.1.
Rodwell, J. & Fairbairn, L. 2008. Dangerous liaisons? defining the faculty liaison librarian service model, its effectiveness and sustainability. Library Management. 29(1/2):116–124. DOI: 10.1108/01435120810844694.
Saldana, J. 2015. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. 3rd edition. London: SAGE Publications.
Thorne, L. 2019. What employers really, really want: investigating desired qualifications in health sciences library job postings. In: CHLA 2019 Conference Contributed Papers / ABSC Congrés 2019 Communications Libres. Ottawa (ON): Children's Literature Association.
Trei, K. 2015. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) academic librarian positions during 2013: what Carnegie Classifications reveal about desired STEM skills. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship. 80. DOI: 10.5062/F4XG9P57.
Triumph, T.F. & Beile, P.M. 2015. The trending academic library job market: an analysis of library position announcements from 2011 with comparisons to 1996 and 1988. College & Research Libraries. 76(6):716–739. DOI: 10.5860/crl.76.6.716.
University of Michigan Libraries. 2020. Systematic reviews: opportunities for librarians [Internet]. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Libraries. [cited 2020 Feb 12]. Available from: https://www.lib.umich.edu/systematic-reviews-workshop.
van de Schoot, R., Winter, S.D., Ryan, O., Zondervan-Zwijnenburg, M. & Depaoli, S. 2017. A systematic review of Bayesian articles in psychology: the last 25 years. Psychological Methods. 22(2):217–239. DOI: 10.1037/met0000100.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. Librarians [Internet]. Occupational Outlook Handbook. Washington (DC): U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. [cited 2020 Feb 12]. Available from: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/librarians.htm#tab-1.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Jason B Reed, Alexander J. Carroll
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
